Field of the Invention
Some embodiments relate to the general field of telecommunications.
In particular, some embodiments relate to the field of processing communications for the purpose of filtering, and in particular telephone calls, calls placed as part of a videoconference, instant messaging communications, text messages (SMS) or multimedia messages (MMS).
Description of the Related Art
In the current state of the art, call filtering methods exist by blacklists. These blacklists contain telephone numbers from unwanted callers and make it possible to filter an unwanted call based on the caller's telephone number. It is also possible to block calls whereof the telephone numbers are hidden.
White list filtering methods also exist in which all telephone calls are filtered except telephone calls whereof the caller's telephone number belongs to the white list.
Some telecommunications operators further offer an identification service for hidden calls making it possible to filter hidden calls before they are presented to the recipient. Thus, in the case of the “stop secret” service developed by Orange (registered trademark), a caller whose telephone number is hidden is connected to a server asking him to identify himself vocally. If the caller does not provide voice identification, the call is not put through to the recipient.
Unfortunately, these filtering procedures based on voice identification or lists have faults.
Some call centers have set up a practice consisting of falsifying their telephone number when placing their telephone calls, so that in fine the blacklist or voice identification methods are ineffective.
Furthermore, establishing a white list is a long and tedious operation, since it requires inventorying all of the telephone numbers of callers from whom one wishes to receive calls. Thus, if one wishes to be able to receive all calls from a particular company, it is necessary to exhaustively list all of the numbers used by all of the extensions within that company.
There is therefore a need for a simple and effective solution making it possible on the one hand to improve the effectiveness of the filtering of communications and on the other hand to improve the associated user experience.